MSNBC reporter Vaughn Hillyard claimed that President Donald Trump didn't mention abortion during his 2020 campaign launch, even though the president spent part of his speech decrying Democratic support for abortion.
Speaking from Arkansas, Hillyard told MSNBC Live host Hallie Jackson on Wednesday that although Trump supporters value abortion as an electoral issue, Trump failed to mention it.
"And President Trump last night, I want to note that down in Orlando, there was a key political issue that he did not mention from the stage," Hillyard said. "That was abortion, that was access to women's reproductive health care."
Why did @MSNBC reporter @VaughnHillyard falsely claim that President Trump "did not mention" abortion during his speech in Orlando last night?
Roll the tape! President Trump will ALWAYS fight for the sanctity of life! #FakeNews pic.twitter.com/NE5Nf51V2H
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 19, 2019
Trump in fact spoke specifically about abortion during his Tuesday night speech.
"Virtually every top Democrat also now supports taxpayer-funded abortion, right up to the moment of birth: ripping babies straight from the mother's womb," Trump said.
Trump also denounced Virginia governor Ralph Northam's comments on abortion, in which Northam seemed to promote infanticide.
"If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother," Northam said during a January radio interview, regarding the terms of a controversial late-term abortion bill in the Virginia State House.
Trump concluded his launch speech saying that he has asked Republicans in Congress to take greater measures to seek protections for the unborn.
"Republicans believe every life is a sacred gift from God," he said. "That is why I have asked Congress to prohibit extreme late-term abortion."